


you don't have to say i love you to say i love you

by earlgrey_milktea



Series: milktea's saso2017 fills [34]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Fluff, Friendship/Love, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 00:03:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11497596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgrey_milktea/pseuds/earlgrey_milktea
Summary: understanding how to read midorima is a privilege takao rather likes.





	you don't have to say i love you to say i love you

**Author's Note:**

> original prompt [here](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/23665.html?thread=14073201#cmt14073201)
> 
>  **quote:**  
>  People say I love you all the time. When they say ‘take an umbrella, it’s raining,’ or ‘hurry back,’ or even ‘watch out, you’ll break your neck.’ There are hundreds of ways of wording it - you just have to listen for it, my dear.  
>  _\- John Patrick, "The Curious Savage"_
> 
> title from "for him." by troye sivan

Midorima speaks a little differently than most people.

Kazunari knows this. Midorima talks like he rehearsed everything specifically in his head before the word makes it out out his mouth. He chooses words meticulously, never wasting a breath, and when he speaks, he speaks in a straightforward manner, leaving no room for nonsense. (But he doesn’t speak honestly—at least,  not with his words. His lips thin out when he’s displeased, his brows furrow slightly when he’s lost his train of thought, he pushes his glasses up when he’s embarrassed about what he’s just said. But by far the most telling of his features are his eyes. Kazunari is proud that he has the honour of learning the secrets to Midorima’s green, green eyes—it certainly helps that they’re nice to look at.)

Midorima talks with a purpose, and Kazunari rather likes listening to that surprisingly deep, idiosyncratic voice. But Kazunari finds that what he really likes are the things that Midorima doesn’t say.

Midorima won’t tell Kazunari good morning, barely giving a nod when Kazunari greets him. But he will stare at Kazunari’s open collar, mouth tilting down just a bit as he sorts through the drawers of thoughts in his head, and then scold him for being too noisy this early in the morning. Then, without pausing his impromptu lecture, Midorima will unwrap his own scarf and wind it around Kazunari’s neck. Not a single eyelash is batted. The scarf is always slightly warm, carrying the smell of Midorima: clean and fresh like the scent of the detergent his family uses, and something slightly lemon-y sweet. Kazunari would breathe in, and know he’s really saying,  _ Keep warm, I don’t want you to get sick. _

Midorima always responds to Kazunari’s mindless chatter with a serious remark, shooting down Kazunari’s wilder stories with immovable logic, most often ended with “-nanodayo.” But he never lets Kazunari’s question go unanswered, and when Midorima says, “You should focus more on pedalling than telling inaccurate recounts of your questionable experiences,” Kazunari knows he’s really saying,  _ Be careful on the road, tell me more when we have time. _

When the rest of the team has already filed out of the locker room, terrible disappointed scowls etched on their faces and tense silence hovering above them, Midorima tells Kazunari, “Hurry up,” but he turns his eyes away and doesn’t comment on the tears Kazunari gave up on holding in. Midorima stays with him until he manages to get a hold of himself again, and Kazunari knows he’s really saying,  _ I know, I know, but we’re going to work hard, and come back better and readier than ever next year, together. _

Midorima speaks a little differently than anyone Kazunari has ever met. He thinks too much about what he says, and isn’t very honest when he talks. But Kazunari has practice now in reading between Midorima’s thinly veiled lines, and when Midorima looks over at him and says, “Come on, Takao,” with that quiet sparkle in his green, green eyes, Kazunari knows what he’s really saying. And he’s fine with keeping those three little words their own little secret for now.

**Author's Note:**

> @puddingcatbae on tumblr/twitter


End file.
